Lately I've been having trouble finding 30.06 ammo but it seems that .308 is in stock. What would it take to safely shoot .308 in a rifle chambered for 30.06? It's a Savage 111. Either way I'm going to grab as much .308 as I can if 30.06 is out of stock because I figure I can trade it or if I get enough I may just buy a rifle chambered for it. I never thought I'd have trouble finding ammo in this caliber, but everything is getting harder to find at reasonable prices. My brother in law has all of the gear to reload, but primers and powder are tough to get here in Massachusetts. Thanks in advance for any help.
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Using .308 in 30.06 rifle?
- Thread starter stumpg26
- Start date
Interesting, since I saw several cases of FGMM .30-06 today at a store in OK.
.308 has been more difficult to get for the past few months.
Getting to your question, don't do it.
If you want to shoot .308, simply take your rifle to a gunsmith and have him cut/shorten/thread/chamber for .308.
Then you will have a .308 and you will no longer need to search for 30-06 ammo.
.308 has been more difficult to get for the past few months.
Getting to your question, don't do it.
If you want to shoot .308, simply take your rifle to a gunsmith and have him cut/shorten/thread/chamber for .308.
Then you will have a .308 and you will no longer need to search for 30-06 ammo.
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WWHHAATTT?????? You can't shoot .308 ammo in a 30.06!!!!!! You would have to pull the bullets, don't know what the powder is, so you wouldn't know what charge to reload the 30.06 cases with, and you would have to try to salvage the primers-----All in all, if you buy them, you would need to trade, and I think that you might have difficulty doing that, as if I had both rifles, and only one size ammo, I'd just shoot the one I had ammo for at the present time.
Thanks for the fast replies. This is the first time I've ever had trouble finding 30.06. If I can't find any I'll grab .308 and buy a new rifle, problem solved, except for which new rifle...
There Ya go! You can even justify that purchase as a DIRE NEED----after all, you can't shoot the one you have, cause you don't have ammo, right?
Thanks for the fast replies. This is the first time I've ever had trouble finding 30.06. If I can't find any I'll grab .308 and buy a new rifle, problem solved, except for which new rifle...
That's the spirit!
Not sure if this is within your budget-----but it is a MUST that you buy a .308, so why not????
http://www.snipershide.com/shooting/firearms-sale/189756-custom-308-sale.html
http://www.snipershide.com/shooting/firearms-sale/189756-custom-308-sale.html
Do you realize that since you have a Savage it is very easy to simply buy a .308 barrel and change the caliber of the rifle? All you need is to borrow/buy the tools and a headspace gauge.
I drive truck. I get in and out of random gun shops all over my state. I'm telling you, stuff is coming back in stock more and more every month. Primers are easy as pie to find (here in ohio), powder is available at shops in the middle and end of the work week (weekends its sold out), and the factory ammo selection is getting bigger and more diverse every week. I mean it when I say; I think the bubble is about to burst and stuff is coming available again. Just be patient, in the meantime, maybe you can make friends with a person you trust that can reload for you. Like the fella already said, savages are easy to rebarrel if you buy a few tools and know the difference between righty tighty lefty loosey.
Good luck!
Good luck!
I thought they used to sell a chamber adapter to make a .30-06 use .308. You needed a stuck case extractor to get it out. Military used to have them IIRC.
I use to run sniper schools for the Guard and RA in Alaska, the guard was using M1C/D's, the Reg Army was using M21's. M-72 and M-118 respectively.
I found some brass that kind of looked like 458 Win without the belt. Got to checking it out and found some of the guard guys got a hold of some M118 and fired it in their Garand's.
It was about as accurate as throwing rocks.
I had cases of ammo on different points on the line. After that I had to hire an ammo guy to distribute ammo.
I found some brass that kind of looked like 458 Win without the belt. Got to checking it out and found some of the guard guys got a hold of some M118 and fired it in their Garand's.
It was about as accurate as throwing rocks.
I had cases of ammo on different points on the line. After that I had to hire an ammo guy to distribute ammo.
I better not say anything because it wouldn't be positive, or constructive. Okay, what the hell, this is sugarcoated:
Shooting a 308 in an '06 is something that might be done rarely, by accident.
I can't imagine a reasonably intelligent person proposing to do it on purpose! BB
Shooting a 308 in an '06 is something that might be done rarely, by accident.
I can't imagine a reasonably intelligent person proposing to do it on purpose! BB
I'm not completely out of ammo yet, but getting to a point where I can't shoot as much as I'd like unless I start putting some ammo back into the stash. Hopefully I'll find some soon, but this gives me a reason to think about getting a .308 gun. A guy can never have enough options. I'm going to leave the Savage as it is because it shoots well and I just don't feel like messing with it. There are plenty of .308 guns that need a new home.
Yeah I'm pretty sure guys used to (or maybe still do) use those in Garands & I haven't heard of major trouble... But just because I haven't heard of it doesn't mean it's not happening...
But with that being said, a new rifle is ALWAYS the answer, no matter what the question is, haha!
While I do have a case of Purchase-too-many-Firearmbosis, I think this is a perfect example of why it's a good idea to have rifles chambered in several of the most popular calibers in your safe. Many years ago the US Gubmint put a 7.62 in my hands and a high(er) ranking somewhat worldly individual confidently told me that no matter where in the world I went I would always be able to source ammo. Bullshit. I have learned this several times over the years. Get 30-06, 243, 223, 308, 300WM, even 6.5 Swede. That's a bare minimum.
You are correct sir! The Navy came up with the adapters and changed a bunch of their M1s over to 7.62 many years back, before resorting to just rebarrelling them with new barrels properly chambered for the (then) new NATO round. Never used one, but I've heard that if done correctly, they shot pretty well. There's plenty of references to them in any number of books on the Garand.
Cummon guys, your trying to help him not HAVE to buy a new gun! That is no way to treat a pal. You need to give him a nudge so he feeds his gun addiction and is Compelled to BUY another Gun!
Just trying to help.....
Just trying to help.....
Scan u shoot 30-06 In a 308 chamber...
Well on the bright side, nature has a way of weeding out the non-hackers.
Well on the bright side, nature has a way of weeding out the non-hackers.
Thanks for the link. Hopefully they'll ship to Mass., it's an ongoing problem thanks to our Commie A.G.
I'm pretty sure there's a .308 gun in my near future though. Gotta feed the addiction every so often.
Edit: Just checked and none of the dealers ship to Mass. Guess I'll be doing a road trip this weekend to see what I can find. WTF.
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The Naval Academy at Annapolis had a large number of M1s, originally converted via chamber adapters from 30-06 to 308. These "converted" rifles were around for a long time. A 30-06 can be and have been converted to 308 for a long time, with a chamber insert. I'm not a gunsmith, but if one was going to be used, I'd ask a good smith to do it. I don't think it can be easily "un-converted" once installed.
I had the priviledge, a number of years ago, to learn a number of things from a Marine Colonel who worked in the Marine Marksmanship Unit Armorers shop, back in the "late Garand, Early M14" era. One of the things he schooled me on was those neat little chamber adapters that let you shoot .308 in a .30-06 Garand.
The proper proceedure of installation involved reaming some radial grooves into the '06 chamber, seating the insert in the chamber, then firing a lubed proof round in it to expand the insert to permanently in the grooves - so it wasn't going anywhere, ever.
However, the inserts sold by Sarco and other companies (at least in the early 90's) were NOT of completely correct dimensions, and he called them "of suspect parantage".
The idea of having the stupid thing fly out wrapped around a .308 brass, and following it up with another round makes me uncomfortable.
Seems the Navy abandoned the inserts, after figuring out it wasn't that big a labor savings over just rebarreling it in .308, and having trouble with them not getting permanently enough seated.
I've seen only one rifle with what appeared to be a Navy installed insert in it. I've also seen one pulled barrel that had what looked like the grooves for an insert cut in it.. But no insert. I'm sure there are more out there.. But Those are the only o es I've seen.
To the original question; buy a new barrel, or a new rifle. You can't have too many (just not enough safe space).
The proper proceedure of installation involved reaming some radial grooves into the '06 chamber, seating the insert in the chamber, then firing a lubed proof round in it to expand the insert to permanently in the grooves - so it wasn't going anywhere, ever.
However, the inserts sold by Sarco and other companies (at least in the early 90's) were NOT of completely correct dimensions, and he called them "of suspect parantage".
The idea of having the stupid thing fly out wrapped around a .308 brass, and following it up with another round makes me uncomfortable.
Seems the Navy abandoned the inserts, after figuring out it wasn't that big a labor savings over just rebarreling it in .308, and having trouble with them not getting permanently enough seated.
I've seen only one rifle with what appeared to be a Navy installed insert in it. I've also seen one pulled barrel that had what looked like the grooves for an insert cut in it.. But no insert. I'm sure there are more out there.. But Those are the only o es I've seen.
To the original question; buy a new barrel, or a new rifle. You can't have too many (just not enough safe space).
No insert for me. I'd rather buy a new rifle. I originally posted this question because I wasn't sure if it would be just a head space adjustment or something minor. The rifle shoots well as is and I don't want to "fix" something that ain't broke. Thanks for all the info and for not just calling me a dumb ass because I asked a question.
A friend in a Free State ordered 200 rounds for me, so I'll have some ammo sometime next week. Once I try it in my rifle, and if I like it, I'm going to have him get me a bunch more. i think it's Federal 168gr. Match Ammo. i have some hunting rounds, really just need some target rounds. It really sucks that no companies, that I can find, will ship ammo to MA.
A friend in a Free State ordered 200 rounds for me, so I'll have some ammo sometime next week. Once I try it in my rifle, and if I like it, I'm going to have him get me a bunch more. i think it's Federal 168gr. Match Ammo. i have some hunting rounds, really just need some target rounds. It really sucks that no companies, that I can find, will ship ammo to MA.
